Fréttablaðið and Vísir report today that among evidence gathered by police onboard the trawler Polar Nanoq in the case of the death of Birna Brjánsdóttir, is the winter jacket of one of the crew members. That man was the third one arrested in the case, but he was released after questioning, and Chief Superintendent Grímur Grímsson has stated that his connection to the case has been ruled out.
According to Fréttablaðið, the third crew member stepped forward because of his jacket, which he said he forgot inside the red Kia Rio, rented by two other crew members, who remain in police custody, suspected in Birna’s death. RÚV radio reported during the 12:20 pm news hour that the owner of the jacket was suspicious of the fact that his jacket had been washed in the washer aboard the ship on Saturday without his prior knowledge.
He thought nothing of it until the ship was made to turn around on its way to Greenland. At that time, he became suspicious and subsequently notified the police. The police have not confirmed what items were confiscated aboard the ship.
The red Kia Rio, rented by the suspects, is believed to have traveled between 100 and 150 km between the hours of 7 am and 11 am Saturday morning, January 14, but Birna was last seen in Reykjavík at 5:25 am that morning. The trawler left harbor in Hafnarfjörður that day with the two suspects onboard. The ship was later forced to turn around on its way to Greenland, after which the suspects were arrested.
Birna’s body was discovered Sunday, January 22, on the south coast of Reykjanes peninsula. The police have been researching ocean currents in the area between January 14 and 22 in an effort to determine where exactly her body was thrown into the ocean. The result of that research, Fréttablaðið reports, is a special focus on the coastal area from Grindavík in the west to Óseyrarbrú bridge in the east.
